Once Upon a Time in Arabia

If you think IT and software professionals think nothing but computers all through the day; here is some “play” for thought, well for those of you who don’t know – presenting Rebelz, a Chennai based English theatre group started by IT professionals was out with their fourth production last Saturday and Sunday(26/27th) at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium in Mylapore.

The show was not the usual kinds, which we see in Chennai theatre, it was a dated spoof on Arabia, a la Alibaba, Aladdin types.

There is trouble in the ancient Arabian kingdom of Petra, where the main characters of the play, Ali (Ashwin) is the handsome peasant deeply in love with the voice of a song he heard in the palace and his brother Sinkbath (Bharath) the bumbling sailor who owns a ’ship of the desert’, a camel named Humpy and not a ship!

Ali thinks he is in love with Ayesha (Mahima) and tries to win her heart with the help of his brother. They have a friend called Jassi (Shritha), who is Ayesha’s younger sister – is disguised as a sardarji to sneak out of the palace and deeply in love with Ali and tries to help Ali in whichever way possible.

In this play Parthasarathy plays the evil Vizier. Dressed in a combination of red and black, his thunderous laugh is more a bumbling comedy-villian who tries in all possible ways to woo Prince Ayesha and take over the kingdom of Petra.

Sandeep as the Vizier’s bodyguard stole the show, whose ‘Hail the Vizier’ dialogues had people falling off their seats. His one-liners were really very witty

The Director Harish, performed a cameo which was a totally unexpected character, school boy genie, right after the interval. Imagine a genie dressed in school boy clothes, well all is fair in spoof’s and it was really a funny performance by him.

The play had a happy ending when the pairs find their match and all’s well ends well. Music was scored by SAE School, was a nice hear. Arabian backdrops, costumes and music makes a little complex play compared to their other ones. The show had it all, from skeleton dance to bumbling guard, arabian dance and lots more.

Err Im not advertising for them, even though I happen to be the PR of the group, but if you want to join Rebelz, check us at www.rebelz.in